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seasons in review : winter

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Hello Friends. This is a Winter edition of Seasons in Review – a reflection through the last season into our lives that references certain events and projects that may have been written about in this space. It’s also a fun way to get to know one another some more and to have a fun dive into the archives of your blog! Link up and get reflecting ;)

What was the best memory of this winter season for you and your family?
This winter flew by for us so much, and of course the best memory would have to be our holidays, which now seems so long ago. But it was great appreciating the holiday season through a 3 year old with all its magic and wonder…
but then there’s the time my daughter
learned to read – that was pure joy and continues to be ;)
What is the one event you looked forward to the most? Did it turn out as you expected?
I guess it would be Christmas again, and yes it was exciting but I’ve learned that prior to having a big fancy dinner – my husband and I get wrapped up with preparation issues that are not fun at all. Eventually, we iron out the wrinkles as the guests come in and we have a good time.  But throwing a large dinner is relatively new for us, and we’ve already decided have the Easter dinner at my mom’s ;D
Our baking day at my sister’s with the kids was so much fun. And this kids party was loads of fun ;)


Have you done/tried/tasted something completely new, how was your experience?
Swiss Chard ;) I never had it before. I still have some and I need to make another pot of a delicious soup.
Is there a valuable lesson you learned this winter season?
That I can’t keep on snacking on foods that potentially could be making me sick. I have not cheated on a single crumb of wheat since January and I feel so much better as a reward ;)
And that the house won’t clean up itself.
Have you applied yourself creatively and created projects that you wanted to?
I had a lot of fun doing a sweater makeover which I was thrilled with. I turned an old boring cardigan into something a little more showy. Take a look at the post From Drab to Fab!
And I did a cute little
maracas craft project made from a coconut with my daughter.
And this
bird mobile was so much fun.
And then there’s the salt-dough hearts that became
magnets and hanging decorations.
There’s still so much I wanted to do but I keep putting things off as different priorities come on by.
I did however do a contribution for ROTH with some awesome spice decorated gingerbread cookie ornaments and I did a few other ornaments which were also fun.

Is there something you wanted to try or complete that you didn’t have the time for? What do you think stood in your way and will you still attempt it?
Hi, my name is Ella and I’m a procrastinator.
Enough said? And yes, I will finish things up, promise. There’s cushions I started, a box play house and the #2 of my sweater re-fab. I will get to those projects soon. Promise.

From your winter experience, what are you most grateful for?
That i’ve got the vegan/ gluten-free baking down to almost perfection. I don’t crave foods (as much-still do sometimes-who doesn’t) but I have now graduated to baking without a recipe even and not using an egg-replacer. Yeah!
And I wish I spent more time outside but I’ve never been a huge fan of winter ;) Once the real spring comes, I know I will be a different person.
I am most thankful for though, is having such a great support system in my family and for all those great times we’ve spent together cozying up indoors ;)

What was your favourite place you travelled to? Do you plan to go back there?
I went on a little trip to Niagara Falls to my mom’s with my daughter and my father-in-law. Just us three. It was the first time I spent so much time with him alone, it’s a 1 hr trip one way, and I was a little worried ;) But it’s been great getting to know him and getting closer. Since then, we’ve taken on occasional Ikea trips together (we both love the ‘as is’ section) lol. and Gabi loves the kid’s care, not as much as I do ;)
Is there a blog that inspires you the most?
I love visiting my friend’s blogs (so You) and getting to know them more. I am so inspired by such amazing and talented women out there and I am so thankful I can peek into their lives. Lately, I challenge myself more with photography, and one amateur photographer is really helping me to see life a little differently. She is Aura Joon.
What are your favourite photos, stories or memories that you want to share from your winter season?
We started having fun little ‘movie nights’ with our daughter. We had our nephew stay for a sleepover which was so fun. I loved our winter walks and sleigh rides with guaranteed hot chocolate with marshmellows to warm up to at home…
Mostly though, I really enjoy doing little things with my daughter, like little crafting projects, baking muffins together and things like
this ;) I am reminded how quickly time flies by and kids are only kids for so long – I am happy and lucky to have a flexible schedule that can put family first ;) Those times spent together are the ones I’ll always treasure most…

Thank you for reading this and for allowing me to share my bit of life with you. Maybe you’ve clicked on a few old posts you haven’t seen before ;)

I hope you will join me in reviewing your winter season.
Grab a badge and copy and paste the questions and happy reflecting. You will be pleased you did as this will create a wonderful connection with yourself  and your memories for a season gone by….

Have fun saying farewell to winter!

Leave a link to your post in the comments below, you can still come back and add to it throughout the whole week. No rush, just have fun ;)


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family friday

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Kids do grow up so fast and I’m being totally silly today in mentioning that my girl Gabriella turned 3 1/2 this week. I did say silly didn’t I – I’ll add crazy to that too! I blame it all on this horrid mid-winter blahs – and nothing to celebrate. So here she is doing her thing in front of my camera at the big age of three-and-a-half!

I think this was just an excuse for a photoshoot.
(And I’m still in total scare to paint that old frame – I want to squeeze every bit of gold-frame-propping it can give me. It will be white soon – I promise ;))

Back to the celebrating.

I think we might bake some cookies today and have a tea party. Anything to brighten these cold days – so a party it shall be! lol

Here’s a few things about my girl:

- she loves to sing

- loves to show off new dance moves and poses (kind of reminding me of Stewie from SNL ;)

- draws beautifully – like a 4 year old!

- started to read – (I’ve already blabbed about that excitement ;)

- is fully potty trained – even nights! (I hope I won’t jinx that now) but she’s had the diapers off for the nights since the new year. Very proud.

- hates to brush her teeth though

- loves everything purple and is requesting to have our house painted – outside

- wants to be a police officer – all thanks to Sheriff from Cars!

- loves horses, pegasus and can you guess what else… unicorns ;) lol

- loves when mommy takes her to bed and reads and cuddles (I have accepted that 1 hour of my life per day is spent with my girl in my arms)

- she falls asleep with her eyes open! Jeez – no wonder why it takes an hour!

- she’s the coolest person I know ;)

I told you this was silly. This is it for Family Friday sharing from me.

How was your week? Anything you’d like to share?
(write in the comments and I may share your week’s moment next week)


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our weekend : random inspirations

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A busy weekend led to a busy day. But I do feel recharged and inspired with some fresh ideas and dreams. Could this be a result of longer days and a few extra sun beams are charging up some brain cells… Or possibly a thrift store find got me excited… or a party mood got me recharged…. or maybe I’m listening to something that gets me lost in my own daydreams…

So this is a little blur of what happened over the weekend and today. I feel good and happy today and these events and things probably have something to do with it…

a little party for a sweet 1 year old

lots of laughter of little kids and grown ups too

hanging out at big sisters

leaving my husband to watch the Superbowl with his friends at our house

missing the travelling little sister (remember the one who’s in South Asia and Australia right now)

still at the sister’s, stayed up late talking once the kids crashed for the night

had the worst night of sleep ever, on the floor, but I’ve recovered just fine

packed up for home at noon leaving the kiddo for an extended stay

stopped at my favourite thrift store and was greeted by 50% off sale

yeah. a thrift store sale and a day of mom-freedom

brought some beautiful textiles home – I think I’ve just decided that one more room is getting a makeover

once home, I came back to find remnants of hubby’s party; the typical – pizza crusts, nacho chips, beer bottles and red wine also (fancy)

a surprise waited for me though

this whole cd by Gotan Project

so I’ve been busting some tunes the rest of the day (while working)

I’m so busy working on some fashion catalogues with summer product.
yeah – a promise of spring after all….

and daydreaming of what to do with this beautiful throw I just brought home (and a few more shopping bags of some thrifted finds)

now take a listen to these beats and see what I mean – this music will just take you far away

not to mention how lovely to listen to with your Valentine… keep that in mind as the 14th is almost here….

- ohhh and I’m trying to get used to having red hair!

How was your weekend?
Are you daydreaming about some beautiful things?
What inspires you lately?

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and the award goes to…

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“I would like to thank my fellow bloggers for their continued support and for believing in me and especially to my friend Holly from Hoosier at Heart for awarding me with this honour. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!”

That was a pretty good acceptance speech right? I think I’m ready for the Oscars now ;) Here’s the scoop. I’ve been awarded the Stylish Blogger Award – sounds swanky huh?  Apparently though, there are serious rules for acceptance, and I suppose Holly said it best when she said I was ‘sweet’. Thank you Holly, now I can’t let you down ;)

I have to step up to that title now to deserve this award and do my thing, so here it goes. Here are the rules:

* Post linking back to the person that gave you the award.
* Share 7 random things about yourself.
* Award 5 recently discovered bloggers.
* Drop them a note, and tell them about it!

Seven Random things about me:

  1. I contemplated for a long time about changing the above requirements to say 1 thing about myself and to blame it on human error of copy writing
  2. Feeling so thankful that I just filled the first spot on this list, and now the second. This is way easier than I thought. See I’m sneaky like that ;) That’s something about me you didn’t know, right?
  3. I like to use punctuation a lot! Along with the old school happy faces ;) I’m sure you’ve noticed. wink ;
  4. I am an unrealistic list maker and usually don’t get through much on my list and feel a little disappointed
  5. I leave things till the last minute
  6. I don’t always show my true colours here in this space and leave out things to show more positivity. For example I’m writing this with an eye patch over one of my eyes right now because my symptoms flared up. But I can’t say that too often because I might  just create a pity party and I that would help no one.
  7. I also may ‘appear’ to handle this anti-candida, gluten-free, vegan diet thing like a pro – truthfully I crave my old favourite things madly sometimes, like pepperoni pizza, a beef lasagna with layers of spinach and riccota cheese, regular white flour crusty baguette with scrambled eggs for breakfast and those little Portuguese creme tarts for dessert. (his was painful now ;) and my sincere apologies if you’re going through a diet change and I’ve stirred up some taste buds – stay strong my friend, stay strong Ella ;P

And now…. drumroll please…. The next Stylish Blogger Awards go to: (in random order)

Stephanie from Petals and Sunshine
Sarah Jane from Lovely Chaos
Ana from I Made it So
Kyndell from Mollusk
Sarah from Sarah’s Serendipity

Congrats to you my lovelies! Enjoy to excitement and the consequences of being a winner ;)

This is also great to have some link love just before Valentine’s. So go ahead and check out these great blogs!
(I think only Holly is realizing the edited version of this (don’t hate me) but I also realize that this is easier to pull off and more fun. I also checked the background and there’s really no original creator of this award to slap me in the wrist)

xo

PS. we are feeling a little run down with various ailments so our weekend was a little rough and now we’re trying to survive another day….

I sure hope you had a great weekend and are feeling happy and healthy. So what have you been up to???

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happy new year

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Hello my lovely friends. Welcome to 2011. How did you celebrate? We were just chilling at home – with a soak in the tub for two, yadi yadi yada and watched Black Swan accompanied by a bottle of wine and light snacks. A few minutes till midnight (without realizing that) our daughter came out of her room and called for me, I quickly ran up and took her back to bed and cuddled her back to sleep, I heard a whispered countdown by my husband and was smiling ear to ear at the stroke of midnight with my little angel in my arms. What a beautiful welcome to the New Year that was ;)

Isn’t it great, exciting or a little scary that another year had just ended. I don’t know about you but I couldn’t be happier about leaving the old year behind. That old 2010 only gave me trouble. Serious trouble, seriously. It had the guts to test my physical strength with my Myasthenia Gravis symptoms, my inner strength with the emotional burned of coming with symptoms I couldn’t control. It tested my will power when I went head on and decided to change everything in my diet and went to an anti-candida, semi-vegan (I eat some fish), and gluten free diet. This was not easy at first – but I think I nailed it and now I have an (almost) normal life, almost symptom free thanks to these diet changes. Isn’t it strange how a diet can treat an ailment or a chronic disease – - imagine what it could do with preventative measures. (On a sidenote, if you’re going through some health issues, even if it’s stress, anxiety, mood swings etc., although these even may not be considered ‘health problems’ per se, but a tweaking of a diet could help you bounce back to a healthier and happier self. Especially with those winter blues – keep that in mind.)

The 2010 avalanche of problems elso affected my marriage and career that I’m still trying to work through. Plus I said goodbye to my youthful 20′s ;) – enough said? I couldn’t have been happier when I tossed that old calendar to the trash, I mean, the recycling bin ;) I am grateful for some things like the lessons I learned, personal discoveries I made, and gratitude I felt. I have slowly throughout that year transformed and now in this new year I feel so brand new. Healed, happy and lucky to have trusted my gut instincts all along. I am now feeling so free but focused, determined and strong.

I have had good things happen to me in 2010 also and one of the biggest good things was creating this space here. My little blog has been a therapy tool, creative outlet and support system that I’m really grateful for. I get filled with happiness each time I read a comment from a regular visitor friend or someone completely new. I love the connection this social media is creating. I embrace the friendships and the inspirations I get from so many wonderful people through the blog world. So thank you, if you’re reading this.

As for my New Year’s Resolutions, here they go. (although I never really make them, this time I will do my best to pour my whole heart into doing this)

I do have high hopes that this year will be much better. (I keep checking for the January forecast on Astrology Zone but there’s nothing yet). I just need a sign from the stars to make sure this year does start off well. I’m not a big astrology buff – but these forecasts have sometimes helped me resolve some of my issues – check it out – see how your stars are aligned ;) just for fun!

Wishing you a wonderful 2011, may it bring you new possibilities and bless you with love, health and peace in your life.

PS. I will reveal my secret project on monday. See you then ;)

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